Building Community

PRESS RELEASE: New England educators and students to explore Sunnyside Unified (Ariz.) efforts to transform learning

The Spring 2025 Innovative Schools Learning Excursion to Arizona, organized by the national nonprofit Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) with funding from the Boston-based Barr Foundation, offers small teams from New England high schools the opportunity to see innovative learning in person, exchange strategies to improve the learning experience, and come up with actions to try in their own high schools.

The nine visiting communities were selected through a competitive application process and have received a grant, ranging from $11,200 to $12,600, to support their participation and follow-up activities stemming from the visit. These teams include representatives in a variety of roles, from students and parents to teachers and administrators and school board members. “Every team is required to include two high school students,” explained NGLC co-director Dr. Carlos Beato, “because students have the most important perspective to contribute when it comes to learning. Teams on past NGLC excursions have treasured the variety of roles on their teams, broadening their perspective on what’s possible in their high schools.”

The nine teams are:

• Blackstone-Millville Regional High School (Mass.)

• Gateway Regional School District (Mass.)

• Hamden High School (Conn.)

• Hinsdale School District (New Hampshire)

• Holyoke High School North Campus (Mass.)

• Mountain Views Supervisory Union (Vermont)

• Salem Public Schools (Mass.)

• Taunton Public Schools (Mass.)

• Wachusett Regional School District (Mass.)

This excursion is part of a series of such trips that NGLC has offered, with support from the Barr Foundation, for the past eight years. This is the program’s first visit to learn with Sunnyside Unified School District. NGLC has co-designed this experience with Angélica Duddleston, principal of Desert View High School, and Pam Betten, chief academic officer of Sunnyside Unified School District. They, in turn, have brought in the high school’s Student Ambassadors plus many teachers and school and district staff to lead activities for the New Englanders.

While in Tucson, visitors will learn about the high school’s college and career academies; the district’s Profile of a Graduate and commitment to identity, agency, and purpose; student agency; and intentional teaching and assessment strategies. They will observe classroom learning, tour the high school, listen to student panels, sit in on teacher-led roundtables, and engage in interactive workshops about the many strengths of Desert View and Sunnyside Unified’s approach to learning. The high school’s culinary students are even helping to cater the three-day event!

The kinds of discussions that participants will have with each other and with their colleagues in Arizona are rare in public education, especially across the variety of roles represented on the excursion. Inspired to think differently and explore new ideas and strategies, teams are also provided a foundation to apply what they learn to advance their own community’s vision for learning. “We have seen the amazing energy coming out of these Learning Excursions,” shared NGLC co-director Andrew Calkins, “to create the kinds of learning and schools that our young people need and deserve. It is truly remarkable what happens when school communities come together like this. It gives us hope for the future of public education.”

For more information on the 2025 Innovative Schools Learning Excursion to Arizona, contact Kristen Vogt at kvogt@nextgenlearning.org or Andrew Calkins at acalkins@nextgenlearning.org. 

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